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It
may sound wimpishly at odds with the spirit of the game, but I have
discovered that I would prefer to support a team owned by someone I can
respect

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Following a football team as it is
relegated from the top division of the game is one of the more miserable
experiences which sport can offer. A defeat, a disappointing
performance, leaves hope; being kicked out of the great champagne party
of the Premiership to join the great, beery mob outside trying to get
in, brings with it a more long-term despair. The sharp present pain
leaves an after-ache which could last for years.It is a slow fall,
too. Every game from January onwards feels like the key moment of the
season, and with every point dropped, the unthinkable becomes more
possible, then more likely, then inevitable. I vividly remember the last
time my team, Queens Park Rangers, were dumped from the Premiership in
1996. By rights, this debacle should feel even worse. There was so much
hope: a chairman who invested in the club, a manager with a record of
success (Harry Redknapp, pictured), players of class and pedigree.

All
turned out to be a false dawn. The Rs, as they are known, are down and
out – rich, ridiculed and relegated. Yet, to my surprise, the
slow-motion crash of this season has restored my enthusiasm for
football. The sneering pundit may have seen in QPR the unacceptable face
of the game, with sky-high investment and overpaid, less than committed
international players, all leading to disaster, but there has been a
decency and dignity at the top of the management chain which seem more
important than all that.

Sporting wisdom suggests that the soul
of a club is its supporters, then the manager and the players; but in
truth it is the chairman who defines its character, as surely as a head
teacher does a school, or a proprietor a newspaper. Tony Fernandes, a
Malaysian billionaire of whom I had previously never heard, has –
unusually for a chairman of a football club – behaved like a grown-up.
He may have made misjudgements, attempting to do too much too soon,
hiring the wrong manager at a key moment, but he has faced his critics,
shown loyalty to those he appointed, and respected fans, sometimes in
the face of unpleasant abuse.

It is surprisingly rare, and it
matters. My club has been owned by a grotesque galère of opportunists in
recent years. One chairman was a sulking egotist who left when
supporters loved him less than he expected. Other owners seemed in it
solely for the money, their chief executive cheerfully admitting that
they would buy a rival club if the terms were right, just as a farmer
might buy some new land. Then there was the chairman who humiliated his
managers, and a part-owner who took pride in not knowing the names of
the players.

None of these men were people I would like to know
personally – indeed they represent all that I like least in the business
world – and yet I was shackled to them by my support of the club they
owned. It was a nasty feeling, like supporting an evil regime.

It
may sound wimpishly at odds with the spirit of the game, but I have
discovered that I would prefer to support a team owned by someone I can
respect, even if it is not in the top division. Lord Ouseley was right
to comment on the nastiness unique to football, and people like
Fernandes are needed to set the tone from the top.

Undeniably the
past year has been rich in disaster: a high-profile player who lost his
temper, another refusing to sit on the bench, a third this very day
apparently requesting a transfer through the public forum of Twitter,
defeats, deflections, bad luck. When things go wrong, most owners of
football clubs whinge to the press, or fire employees, or turn on the
fans, or look for a buyer. The fact that the chairman of my club has
behaved throughout with straightforward, old-fashioned directness has
reminded us why football can be a great game, and gives me hope that QPR
will soon be back at the great Premiership party. Independent

QPR OFFICIAL SITE -

R’S WELCOME MUMBAI CHILDREN

Five youngsters enjoying QPR Academy experience ...

It has given them the chance to do something they would never otherwise have had the opportunity to do"
David Baker

FIVE LUCKY teenagers from Mumbai recently arrived in London to
take part in a three-week training programme with the QPR Academy after
winning the Mumbai Soccer Challenge (MSC).

The
MSC was set up by Programme Director Sanjiv Saran Mehra, in conjunction
with R’s Vice-Chairman Amit Bhatia, Milind Deora, a Member of
Parliament from the South Mumbai constituency, and Andy Evans, CEO of
QPR in the Community Trust.

Working closely with the club, the MSC has expanded greatly since its inception four years ago.

David
Baker, QPR Academy’s Head of Education and Welfare, explained: “We have
been working alongside Sanjiv to give young children from across Mumbai
the chance to be trained by QPR coaches here in London. And from
thousands of participants, five children were chosen to come over here
for three weeks.”

Rudolf D'Souza (13), Arfat
Ansari (15), Tanaay Shah (15), Uzair Ansari (15) and Praful Kumar (16)
were all selected based on footballing ability and, having arrived a
week ago, they are now working their way through an intensive programme
at the Academy’s Concorde Club base.

“We have put something in place which gives these youngsters the chance to experience Academy life with us,” Baker continued.

“Four
of them have never been out of Mumbai before, so it is a great
opportunity for them. It has given some of them the chance to do
something they would never otherwise have had the opportunity to do, so
it’s a great programme.

“They will experience
what it is like to be a young, elite football player. They’re involved
in the Academy programme and integrating with the Under 14s, Under 15s
and Under 16s teams on Tuesdays and Thursdays, plus attending training
at the weekends.

“As well as that, they are
heavily involved in all aspects of QPR. They have gone to Harlington and
Loftus Road to watch the first team train and play, so it’s a very
varied and exciting programme.

“I know Andy Evans has big hopes for this programme and the aim is to make it bigger and better.” QPR